


Mega Man EXE: Phantom Operation

by SaharaEXE



Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:35:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29290692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaharaEXE/pseuds/SaharaEXE
Summary: In an alternate timeline of the Battle Network Universe, NetCrime has all but been eliminated, and politics have taken over the functionality of the Net. Navis are left questioning just how many rights they have. If humans are seeking now use the Cyberworld via Virtual Reality, and are protected by human rights therein, and Navis have a soul, should they not be protected as well? Now that NetBattling is illegal and the Net Senate has convened to place laws and regulations regarding what Navis can and cannot do, a group of anarchists have banded together to bring freedom (or their version of it) back to the Net. Meanwhile, everything is not as it seems in the Senate, as something nefarious is brewing behind the scenes. This is a story that comes from my 17+ years of love for this series. Some OCs will feature, but the plot will revolve largely around established characters from the BN Universe :)
Kudos: 4





	1. Dreams and Nightmares

"Just pull the damn trigger!"

"Why did you lie??"

"I DIDN'T LIE! _**YOU**_ DID! SHOOT ME!"

"I can't!"

"If you don't kill me right now, everyone you know dies. And their blood will be on your hands. You know this."

"And if I kill you, then YOUR blood will be on my hands! And the Senate will still have won..."

"It's the trolley problem."

"...what?"

"The social experiment, you idiot. You have to kill someone. The question is who. There is no answer."

"...Chaud...I..."

"PULL THE FUCKING TRIGGER, LAN!!"

\----6 months earlier----

Lan Hikari was sweating. He was drenched in sweat and his hands trembled furiously. His eyes darted back and forth as he nervously grabbed at his pants leg. He felt his stomach twisting and lurching. NetBattling wasn't this nerve-wracking. Taking down Nebula twice, the WWW thrice, a NetMafia and a couple of behemoth CyBeasts had been child's play compared to this. Lan was sure he was about to faint. _Why didn't I eat more than two helpings of food before I came here? I should have eaten four..._ He glanced at the clock. There wasn't much time left. The stakes were as high as they'd ever been and he only had 3 minutes remaining. _Focus, Lan. You can do this._ He squinted and clenched his fists. 2 minutes remaining. He HAD to make a decision. If he didn't act fast, it would all be for nothing. Everything he'd worked so hard for. Gone. They'd all rooted for him. Mayl, Dex, Yai. Mega Man. Lan felt a drop of sweat roll into the crease of his mouth as he thought of his brother waiting for him...Lan set his jaw. 1 minute left. He decided to go for it. He took a huge breath and then raised his arm up high and brought it down with enough force to snap his wrist if he had been clenching any harder. He brought his hand in a circle. 20 seconds. He stared forward as his hand clasped the piece of paper with wet, clammy fingers. 10 seconds. Lan sighed and felt his knees wobble as he slid the parchment into the slot that said "SUBMITIONS". The buzzer made a loud noise that either signaled his life beginning or his doom. Lan felt sick.

"Thank you, Mister Hikari," the testing moderator said, somewhat judgingly. 

Lan stood up straight and held out his hand.

"Good sir," he said in his attempt at sounding professional, "I would like my PET returned to my person if you would please kindly and graciously...with haste, also..."

The moderator raised an eyebrow. He shook his head and handed Lan a stylish wristwatch with a blue, yellow and red pattern stenciled across a dark gray body. The newest model of the PET that Lan's father had designed was only recently released to the public. Lan, of course, had gotten first dibs. Smaller, sleeker and designed to be worn at all times rather than the bulky sizes of old. So much more compact and yet over three times as fast as the previous model. Battle Chips were all digital now. Of course, the new wristwatch design could still utilize physical form chips, but they had to be loaded onto the limitless cloud memory of the watch first. These new designs were created with synchronicity in mind and were powered by sunlight so that an Operator and Navi never had to be separated...save for if the Operator was taking a test to be awarded a spot in a prestigious university.

Lan slid the PET's loose band onto his wrist, pressed the Mega Man Navi mark and felt the synthetic carbon and kevlar mesh automatically tighten itself to his liking. The 2.5/3" screen lit up as Mega Man came into view.

"So, how'd it go?" Mega Man asked, somewhat teasingly.

"Awful," Lan answered, tapping the screen so that Mega Man appeared as a hologram hovering in front of Lan. "It was three hours of stupid, hypothetical questions. Dumb math and lame scenarios that I can't possibly see helping me get into BTU."

"Lan, Brighton is one of the top research universities in Electopia. They're not going to let you in without a thorough examination of your talent."

Lan stopped walking. "Talent? Then they should have let me bust some viruses! Or just read ONE headline from when I took out a CYBEAST and, oh, I don't know, SAVED THE WORLD??"

Mega Man defensively put his hands up. "Hey, come on now! If you want to make some breakthroughs in the fields of science and technology, saving the world has to also come with some knowhow. Have you ever changed a tire, Lan?"

Lan's face turned red. "What's that got to do with BTU?? I don't plan on taking "Tire Changing 101" for crying out loud, Mega Man! I want to design the next generation of Navi and human relations. Besides, they didn't even ask practical questions. Stupid ones like 'if a trolley was cascading down a mountain and you could save your Navi or your mom who do you save' or something, like what? What kind of messed up question is that??"

Mega Man thought it better not to provoke his brother further, and so he chuckled and switched subjects. "So what's next?"

"Oh, I don't know," Lan folded his arms behind his head as he thought, "since I'm down here, I might as well drop in on Dad. See how he's holding up."

Mega Man's expression softened. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Have you spoken to Mayl recently?"

Lan blanched. He knew sooner or later he'd have to come to terms with it, but it still didn't feel real enough to dwell upon. "No, Mega Man. I haven't. And I'm sure she'd like to keep it that way."

Mega Man decided to keep quiet. He knew that it wasn't Lan's or Mayl's fault that they had broken up. Mayl went to college a year early in Netopia to study law. That had really strained their relationship. Plus, he could see Lan growing more and more distant from her even before that because of the divorce. He would talk about it in time, Mega Man knew. And Mega Man had all his life. Not aging had its perks, he supposed. Of course, even though he felt human emotion like his brother, he couldn't help feeling like he still didn't quite understand what it meant to be human. Somewhere deep down, he knew he never would.

Lan approached the small apartment complex on the outskirts of town where his father had taken up residence two years earlier. He said he chose this place because it was quiet and secluded, but being only a 20 minute walk from SciLab, Lan knew he just wanted to be nearer to work. If the man was absorbed into his work before, he was obsessed now. 

Lan rang the doorbell. Surely his father wouldn't still be at the office. Not with the new mandates and all. What time was it? 6:27PM. Yeah, he'd be here. The intercom buzzed.

"Yeah?" A tired voice asked, impatiently.

"Hey Dad...it's Lan." Lan couldn't seem to get used to these visits. He loved his father, and he had adopted his obsessive traits. Only Lan still made sure to make time for friends and family. Lan's mother couldn't say the same for Yuichiro. The voice on the intercom seemed to wait an eternity.

"Come on in, Lan."

The lock buzzed and clicked open. Lan stepped inside tentatively and rode the elevator up three floors to his father's room. It wasn't much, but it was nice. Completely decked out to look like Yuichiro's old office at SciLab since he was working from here most days anyway. After the funding on experimental research had been cut, Yuichiro had continued to work by bringing his Senate-approved workload home and repurposing it to his own desires.

"Hey, Lan," Yuichiro tried to sound excited but Lan could tell the man hadn't slept in probably two days. "What's uh...what's happening?"

Lan took a seat next to a pile of blank-state battle chips his father kept to store various files on. Battle Chips were, after all, glorified floppy disks in their most basic form.

"I just finished the admissions test to get into Brighton," Lan said, without much emotion.

"That's fantastic, son" Yuichiro responded, sounding genuinely interested now. "What would your concentration be?"

"Virtual Reality," Lan answered, immediately regretting the can of worms he was opening.

"Amazing," Yuichiro answered, "unlimited funding as a student. You'd be able to have access to some of the greatest minds working on VR across the nation! Lan, you gotta give me some updates if this all pans out for you!"

Lan knew that his father's foray into VR and the merging of realities was what had cost him his funding and his marriage. Lan kicked himself for blurting it out. The cost of wanting your father to be proud of you for continuing his legacy whilst also wanting to keep things to yourself was a high one. Lan was 18 and still felt like a kid in his father's eyes.

"Of course, Dad," Lan decided to try and switch gears after noticing the dejected VR detritus strewn about the apartment. "Hey Dad, how are you? How um...I mean, that is to say...how are you, y'know?" Why was this so awkward? Lan felt like he hardly knew how to speak.

"Oh, I'm fine. SciLab's really got me bogged down with work. Currently they've got me designing some preliminary robotics ideas to implement a faster way of developing PETs."

Lan furrowed his brow. "Robotics?"

Yuichiro spread his hands. "Yup. Seems they don't trust your old man to continue working on the Net, so I've been demoted. But don't count me out. I'm still working from home on a private server."

"Dad, isn't the Ministry trying to stop the Net advancement? Why would you need to-"

"BECAUSE, Lan," Yuichiro slammed his fist down and then looked ashamed. "Because...I don't think the Net is safe. The Senate can pass every Net regulation they want. Net Battles, illegal. Fine. Navis regulated to custodial duties? Sure."

Mega Man stiffened.

"But the Net is only as safe as they want it to be. Net freedom is a budding issue, Lan. And sometimes we have to look past these regulations to see to it that Navi's rights are protected, same as ours. That's what I'm really working on." Yuichiro spun a chip in his hand. "How's your mom?"

Lan looked at the wall. "She's fine."

"She seeing anyone?"

The question hit Lan broadside. "What?"

Yuichiro looked exhausted. "Is she dating? Talking to someone?"

Lan didn't know how to answer. "She's not dating anyone, Dad."

"So she's talking to someone then. That's wonderful!"

Lan felt so uncomfortable and out of place that he inched toward the door. "Dad I've really gotta get home..."

Yuichiro looked slightly relieved. "Oh, sure, Lan! No problem. Stop by again and let me know how BTU turns out, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lan said as he opened the door. "See you, Dad."

In the elevator, Lan ran his fingers through his hair. "Look," he vented to Mega Man. "I don't approve of the Net Senate as much as Dad. I don't like the ban on battles, but there's nothing we can do about that! It is what it is, right? He's wasting his time. The Net is a closed reality now. It's self-contained and self-sufficient. Net society has reached it's apex. It's now time to focus on the next step forward. Dad abandoned VR to keep pushing back at the law because he wants Net Society to continue on."

Mega Man ventured a statement. "Well, maybe Dad understands that Navis feel as though they've got no place in either reality. No culture. They want to move forwards but they've been reduced to security programs and cleanup data."

Lan looked confused. "Mega Man, is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, Lan. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I said anything."

Lan headed for the Metro to make his way home. Mega Man felt weird. He wasn't sure why Lan wasn't jumping at his father's subtle suggestion of Net Freedom. The way the Net used to be before the Senate was put in place. And why was the "Net" Senate comprised of 50 humans? And no Navis? Mega Man had also heard rumors of a group of Navis who wanted their own rights, if worlds were indeed to be merged at some point. Some part of him wanted to join them. But what would Lan say to his Navi going rogue? Mega Man sometimes hated human emotions...


	2. Who to Trust

Qetz walked through the now abandoned mire of what used to be known as the UnderNet. Even being here at all was strictly forbidden, but Qetz was the kind of Navi who knew how to skirt security. He wouldn't have even come here at all had the risk not have been high. That would have just been boring. But then, his contact was arguably the least boring person on the Net. The UnderNet was cold, gray and lifeless these days. It had never really been a beautiful place teeming with fun, but before the Regulation passed by the Senate, it had at least been somewhat lively. 

The UnderNet was created as a sort of backup storage area to keep Alpha, the prototype of the modern web, contained should it ever escape and leak into the Net. However, after Alpha was successfully kept secret and hidden by SciLab, the UnderNet quickly fell into disuse. The modern Net, known as the "SurfaceWeb" to some, became the social hub of everything, and the UnderNet became a natural breeding ground for criminals and NetCrime due to its location and its lack of security. The viruses there were stronger, the Officials and NetPolice were scarce to nonexistent, and the UnderNet thrived as a sort of "getaway" for Navis who wanted to sell illegal merchandise or stage illegal fights. After Alpha had indeed been released by the WWW, the UnderNet had been forgotten and was already teeming with too many Navis to allow Alpha in.

Recently, due to the Senate passing a new law shutting down the UnderNet's connection to the SurfaceWeb, it had become all but impossible to enter there unless one had a personal entrance point already established. Those were few and far between even before the shutdown, and there was only one left now.

Qetz's. He had established an uplink to the UnderNet shortly before the Senate passed the law barring anyone entry. Qetz had been able to establish that link and skirt the security of the Senate because...

...he was a Senate member. And now he was looking to get out. But one did not simply "leave" the Net Senate. Qetz knew this. He also knew that although his skills at hacking and CyberSecurity were next to none, his skills at battling were zip. He needed manpower. He needed help. And thus, he walked through the UnderNet, looking for the Navi who promised to meet him here in UnderNet 12, the deepest, darkest part of the UnderNet. 

Qetz stood waiting beneath a dilapidated staircase that had once led to a black market stall. He doubted it had ever been used, however. Even Under dwellers didn't venture this deep into the UnderNet. Qetz was beginning to think he'd made a terrible mistake when a voice beckoned to him from the staircase above.

"You're here," the voice, smooth as honey, said. 

Qetz wasn't sure what he'd expected from this legendary Navi, but it wasn't what he was now facing. A soft-faced Navi with deep, brown eyes and a playful smile looked at him. The Navi wore a golden helmet with a green gem in the center. Around the Navi's body floated two pink bands of energy. The Navi seemed to be wearing trousers fitted for desert heat and not for battling.

"Um, yes," Qetz found it hard to speak. This Navi had contacted _him_. Yet Qetz felt like he was intruding, even though the Navi gave no indication of being remotely disturbed.

"My name is Serenade," The Navi's beautiful voice crooned. "I like your armor! It's so shiny," Serenade almost giggled.

Qetz smirked. Was this Navi playing with him? Qetz had heard tales of Serenade. Serenade was supposedly a god-like entity who roamed the UnderNet looking for challengers to battle. There was only one Navi said to have ever bested Serenade in combat, but Qetz thought that just a silly tale made up by the elementary-aged boy who operated that Navi. That boy just wanted clout. No one had ever beaten Serenade. Qetz wondered how the ban on battles had effected this playful Navi, if at all.

"It's nice to meet you, Serenade-um...is it uh...sir? Or ma'am?" Qetz felt extremely awkward. Why had he even asked that stupid question? He was blowing this meeting. Serenade could delete him right here and now.

Serenade shrugged lackadaisically. "Whichever you prefer," Serenade replied. "I personally don't see the point of gender. It's limiting and a waste of memory. I'd rather focus on relationships and not the societal defining qualities that make them interesting to some."

Qetz nodded. That seemed a satisfying answer. "Well, um...I'm Quetzalcoatl. I'm a member of the Winged Serpents division of elite Navis and I'm also a Senate member. Please call me Qetz."

"Qetz," Serenade repeated, expressionless. "Okay, so I need to ask you something, Qetz. And I need you to answer me truthfully. I'll know if you're lying."

Qetz blanched.

Serenade winked and continued, looking directly into Qetz's core. "Why do you want to have ProtoMan deleted?"

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lan dumped his pack on his bed and flopped down. He wanted to go say hello to his mom and fix himself a snack; or better yet, ask HER to fix it. Haruka made the best snacks. As soon as he had hit the mattress, however, Lan's looming and uncharacteristic depression took over and told him that he needed a nap. Sometimes the calling of taking a nap was too hard to resist. He felt his PET buzz on his wrist.

"Lan," Mega Man said, "What's next on the agenda?"

*sigh* "I'm not sure, Mega Man...I kind of just want to be alone and take a nap."

Mega Man breathed deeply. He knew something was bothering Lan, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Lan, if there's anything you need to talk to me about...I'm here, okay?"

Lan sat up and kicked his shoes off. "Yeah, thanks." He slid his PET off his wrist and placed it on the magnetic charger stand next to his bed. The drawback of having a PET that was in beta was that Lan had to endure all the bugs that came with the new model. One of which being the solar charging. When outside, the PET had a nearly inexhaustible battery life. Even at night it could run off the solar charge for 10 hours. However, if the user was to walk indoors before nighttime even for a short period, the PET would attempt to absorb solar light as well as artificial light and drain its battery in a matter of hours. Lan hoped the geniuses at SciLab would fix that quickly. If he got into BTU, maybe he could even help them.

Mega Man watched as his brother drifted off into a well-deserved nap. He started thinking to himself. _Could it be possible that Lan and I are growing apart? Our synergy is still at max...but then again it really only reaches its full potential when we are NetBattling...maybe that's all he needs. Damn the Senate...Lan needs to battle. It's in his blood._

Suddenly an alert message popped up. Mega Man intercepted it before it had a chance to beep loudly and wake Lan. Not that much could. Lan's snoring could drown out an earthquake. In fact, he HAD slept through an earthquake before. Mega Man smiled. He opened the alert and his smile quickly faded.

"IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING ALL NET NAVIS: THE SENATE HAS PASSED RESOLUTION 12-117-a WHICH ENACTS A CURFEW ON NAVIS WITH AND WITHOUT AN OPERATOR. NAVIS WITH AN OPERATOR ARE NOW, AS OF 9:00PM TONIGHT, PROHIBITED FROM ACCESSING ANY PORTION OF THE NET FROM 9:00PM UNTIL 6:00AM. NAVIS WITHOUT AN OPERATOR ARE PROHIBITED FROM ACCESSING ANY PORTION OF THE NET FROM 7:00PM TO 8:00AM. NAVIS FOUND IN VIOLATION OF THIS PROTOCOL WILL BE SUBJECT TO ARREST. HIGHTENED SECURITY HAS BEEN POSTED AT ALL AREAS. THIS IS TO KEEP YOU SAFE."

_Damn the Senate._


	3. The Senate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is largely exposition. I felt like some backstory was necessary because otherwise it will take me forever to slowly explain it during the course of the story. I don't want focus to be on the backstory and how things came to be whilst plot is unfolding, so I figured I'd explain much of it here. Apologies if it gets boring!

Chaud stared at the large wooden doors that led into The Holy Chamber. Why the Senate had chosen to name their place of discussion and regulation such an ominous, foreboding name was beyond him. If it had been up to Chaud, he would have left the damn room nameless and conducted meetings there quickly. Yet named the room stood, and slow the meetings remained. The Senate had been formed six years prior, after the Cybeast incident. It was due largely to public outcry from citizens who felt threatened by unchecked entities roaming the Net and how interlinked the human world and Cyber World had become. If beasts of towering strength can wreak havoc in the real world from the Cyber World, how many other threats would soon follow? How many evil Navis without an Operator, bitter at society, would soon take advantage of the link between worlds and cause chaos and death? Chaud thought of Bass. Bass was deleted three years ago in a mission carried out by Chaud himself. Bass used to harbor ill-will towards humanity, and sought the power that would grant him the ability to enter and destroy the human world.

That power was almost realized in the form of the Dimensional Area. Created by Doctor Hikari almost on accident, the Dimensional Area was the first step towards combining realities, and it would have probably worked, at least at its most basic level. However, it was limited. The generators needed to power the Dimensional Area and keep it stable required far too much energy to be financially viable for anything other than experiments. Then there was the fact that it had absolutely zero security. None. Any network surrounded by a Dimensional Area could freely cross the threshold into the human world, and thus anyTHING in that network could as well. Viruses, evil Navis, you name it. That had happened during the Cybest Revolt, and major destruction and loss of life was the result. As such, the Dimensional Area was deemed too dangerous and unnecessary, and thus defunded.

Immediately following that event, Doctor Hikari began researching Virtual Reality; a way to experience the CyberWorld without actually crossing the threshold. He came remarkably close, being able to fuse with his Navi, Zero, and explore the CyberWorld through Zero's mind and body in a process very similar to Cross Fusion. It was then that he encountered Bass. Bass demanded the technology for himself so that he may use it to seek revenge on humans. Naturally, Doctor Hikari had refused. Bass deleted Zero and absorbed the VR program using his Get Ability. As it was not exactly Cross Fusion and did not happen in a Dimensional Area, Doctor Hikari was devastated yet unharmed by Bass' attack on Zero. Furious, he ordered the recovery of his VR technology from the hands of Bass, dead or alive. Chaud and Proto Man were dispatched along with Lan and Mega Man as Net Saviors to delete Bass and recover the VR program before Bass had a chance to do anything nefarious. Lan and Mega Man attempted to reason with Bass, and while he was distracted, Proto Man sliced his head from his body. It had been easy, Chaud remembered. Too easy. But that was years ago, and there had been no word from Bass since, and the VR program was deleted along with Bass.

The attack on Bass caused a rift between Lan and Mega Man and Chaud and Proto Man. Lan left the Net Saviors and cut off all contact with Chaud, accusing him of "killing on a whim" and calling him a "Nazi" for "following bad orders". Lan was upset with his father, too. The first pebble that had caused the avalanche of a falling out between them. Chaud was hurt by Lan's words, but deep down he felt as though he hadn't needed to delete Bass so hastily. So why had he done it? The question lingered in his dreams for quite some time. 

Soon after, a small faction of people, mostly from Electopia, decided that the technology capable of merging the Cyber World and the human world should never be allowed to exist, and demanded the government do something about it. Up until then, the government largely viewed the Net as a means of information-exchange and social media. News, networking, chatting, emails, NetBattles. Sure, there were crimes committed using the Net, but there was always a human being behind it all who was subsequently jailed or killed. Either way, in their eyes, the outcome of Net Crime was always tied to the citizens that the government governed. However, the Dimensional Areas, the Cybeasts, and Bass' threats on humanity caused them to rethink just how 'human' the Net was becoming. There were almost as many independent Navis on the Net as those with Operators. In other words, less humans to be held responsible. And Navis have emotions. Navis have souls. And Navis cannot legally be held responsible for crimes. They can be deleted. But many were powerful. Many resisted.

Cyber security was strengthened, Net Officials were increased, but to the stark few factions, it was not enough. They demanded government for the Net. And thus, largely out of an attempt to shut them up, the Net Senate was formed. It was made up of 50 representatives. Scientists, Net Saviors, some politicians. All the major countries who were part of the World Net signed it and each country was allowed three Senators to represent them. Strangely enough, none of the representation came from the Net. They were all human. Chaud initially found this to make sense. Why would Navis want to create laws limiting their freedoms? The Net was a free place. However, as their power grew, he began to grow suspicious.

The first few laws were harmless; Access terminals needed to be upgraded to the latest model of PET regularly to allow for greater access to the Net for all people. Background checks had to be run on any and all Navis applying for an International travel license. Use of weapon-type Battle Chips was forbidden in public areas when not fighting viruses. Those types of things. Soon, however, they began to pass stranger and stranger laws. They allowed humans to be able to dictate when and where their Navis went. They made certain areas of the Net illegal to access for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Some areas, like Secret Area and the once abandoned but recently repurposed into a public park Kotobuki Area, were shut down and taken offline entirely. The UnderNet was now largely a checkpoint where Net Police conducted degrading, embarrassing and completely unnecessary searches of Navis' memory banks, chip folders, Navi Customizers and anything else they felt like doing. As such, the UnderNet was avoided now.

Then came the ban on NetBattling. In any form. Anywhere. By anyone. Of course, Police were allowed to battle and train. Net Military soldiers trained. But there was no longer a sport. Sports were outlawed too. Net Soccer, the like. It was as if the Senate realized their ability to pass practically whatever legislation they wanted without resistance. Of the 50 members, a simple majority of 26-24 was all that was needed to pass laws. And they were 50-0 on almost everything. Chaud remembered that the largest opposition he ever saw was the ban on NetBattles coming out to 44-6. He tried to do some research into just who all was in the Senate and how they got there, but their identities were kept under lock and key. He figured whomever it was that started the Senate was responsible for picking and choosing whomever they wanted that would closely fit their agenda.

And so he stood, staring at the wooden doors. He knew he wouldn't be allowed inside, but he was determined to get inside, one way or another. Proto Man had recently told him of a small group of Navis who were forming a resistance group against the Senate on the Net. He had asked Proto Man to keep his eye on them and join them undercover if need be. He had to understand what the Senate was doing. He needed to. For everyone's sake. For freedom's sake.


End file.
